North Carolina - July 2016 - Day 4 & 5

July 3, 2016 (Sunday)

Whiteside Mountain View

Another early morning – this time we went to Whiteside Mountain to take a hike.  The hike was quite nice and offered great views. We opted to start the hike going up the stairs, which turned out to be the right choice. The return trip was a nice downward slope. When we arrived the parking lot was quite full, but when we left there were National Forest Staff turning people away. There is a $2 fee, or you can display the National Park pass.

Whitewater Falls

Next we were off to a waterfall – Whitewater Falls. The waterfall is 411 feet high, making it the tallest in the eastern part of the US. There was plenty of parking available.  There is a $2 fee, or you can display the National Park pass. The falls were a short walk from the parking lot.

Mice on Main

Falls Park on the Reedy

After leaving the waterfall, we headed to Greenville, SC to meet up with our SC friends!  We met at the Falls Park on the Reedy. After walking around the gardens and falls we headed to Main Street.  The city has a cute installment called “Mice on Main” (located between the Westin Poinsettia Hotel and Hyatt Regency).  We found five of the nine mice that are hidden about (we did not walk all the way to the end, if we had we probably would have found all of the mice). Per recommendation, we had dinner at Tupelo Honey. Dinner service was slow. We arrived at 4:15 and did not get out of there until 5:45. They messed up two of the orders, but they did remove one of the two from the bill.

After dinner we headed back to Sapphire for the night.

July 4, 2016 (Monday)

Glen Falls

We headed out early for our last day of vacation – destinations near Highlands. Our first stop was Glen Falls. There are three different viewing levels, each with an 80 foot falls. The trail is 1.4 miles one way; the first falls is about 15 minutes into the hike. The trail was moderate. The parking area was not overly full during our visit.

Nearby we visited Bridal Veil Falls. These falls were 150 feet tall, but overall the falls were not very impressive during our visit.

Just down the road from Bridal Veil Falls is Dry Falls. Dry Falls was quite pretty and definitely worth a visit. There is a large parking area.

Heading back towards Sapphire, we searched for the Hurricane Falls. We were not able to find the spot along the road to view the falls, but were able to find the approximate location of the fall.  The road was recently reconstructed – possibly the pull off area was eliminated.

Before our last stop for the trip, we went to check out Toxaway Falls.  You must park to see the falls. We drove by and determined even if we did stop the view would be less than stellar.

Dry Falls

Rainbow Falls

Our last stop for the trip – Gorges State Park. There was no fee for entering the park. The visitor center was very nice – lots of interesting displays. We hiked to Rainbow Falls (150 feet tall) – the parking area was a little crazy but the trail was not overly packed.  The trail is considered strenuous and is 3 miles round trip (lots of ups and downs).  Many people opt to swim around the falls area.  Just past Rainbow Falls is Turtleback Falls. Turtleback falls is a great natural waterslide and very popular! Rainbow Falls is 125-feet high and is known as one of the most beautiful falls in North Carolina.

Turtleback Falls

We stopped in Knoxville for dinner. We selected Stock & Barrel, which was ranked #3 of restaurants in Knoxville.  There was a parking deck right around the corner from the restaurant. Burgers and Bourbon are their name to fame. The burger and bourbon choices are very numerous. We ordered the fried pickles, the steakhouse burger and the Elvis burger. The Elvis burger is what you expect - Peanut Butter, Fried Bananas and Bacon.

North Carolina - July 2016 - Day 3

July 2, 2016 (Saturday)

Goat at Carl Sandburg National Historical Site

The day started with a stop by the Carl Sandburg National Historical Site.  The site is a bit of a hike from the parking lot.  Carl Sandburg was most famous for his writings about Abraham Lincoln and poetry. Sandburg won the Pulitzer Prize for History for his Lincoln writings.  The home, known as Connemara, is currently in the middle of major renovations, but home tours were available for $5. There are also two videos available – we watched both, but honestly they were not really that great. The fun part of the site are the dairy goats! Carl’s wife Lilian was quite famous for her prize-winning goats. We spent about two hours at the site.

Cowpens National Battlefield

Next stop was the Cowpens National Battlefield.  There were a lot of extra activities going on due to the 4^th of July holiday. There were weapons firing demonstrations, ranger-guided battlefield walks, and the reading of the Declaration of Independence. At the visitor center, we watched the fiber optic presentation (shown on demand). The other video available is played on the hour and it did not really work well with our timing.  After the video, we hiking the American Revolution War Battlefield.

We stopped at Strawberry Hill for some tasty homemade ice cream – I tried the strawberry and peach flavors. Yum! The portions are quite large.

Biltmore Estate

Biltmore Estate

We  were lucky to nab the last tour (4:30) of the day at Biltmore Estate. We arrive around 3:30 so we could check out some of the gardens before our tour.  The place is very pretty! Biltmore Estate was completed in 1895 and was a family home built for George W. Vanderbilt.  The home took six years to build – the footings are 26 feet deep!  The estate is the largest privately owned house in the US – 178,926 square feet of floor space! The estate property is very large – 8000 acres! The estate was opened to the public in 1930 in response to requests to increase tourism during the Depression and to generate income to preserve the massive estate. The tours are self-guided – you are given a booklet when you get your tickets that has a descriptions of the rooms, or for $11 you can rent a hand held unit that tells you about the rooms. We just followed along with the guide book.  Photography is not allowed in the home – but a ton of people were snapping away without being scolded. Being the rule follower that I am I did not take photos. It took us about an hour to make it thru the home. Often there are special displays – during our visit it was “Fashionable Romance – Wedding Gowns in Film”. After the tour, we headed back out to check out the gardens some more – Mike really wanted to go to the pond. We spent about three hours at the Biltmore Estate.

North Carolina - July 2016 - Day 1 & 2

June 30, 2016 (Thursday)

Hooray – another vacay! This trip took us to Sapphire, NC.  The area has a bunch of waterfalls and beautiful gorges. We left after work and made it to Richmond, KY. We stayed at the Best Western (using a $50 off award we had received from the out west trip). The hotel was nice – great breakfast spread!

July 1, 2016 (Friday)

Cumberland Gap NHP - hiking

After a quick breakfast, we were back on the road. We attempted to join the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park Hensley Settlement Tour (represents 20^th century Appalachia).  We had called the previous day, but the tour was full and we got on standby. Needless to say, everyone showed up and we were not able to take the tour.  We could have taken the Gap Cave Tour, but we had done that during our last visit to the park so decided to skip it. The Cave tour is $8 ($4 with select passes) and lasts about 2 hours.  We did not recall the Settlement Tour being available during our last visit. The Settlement Tour is 3.5 to 4 hours long and is $10/adult ($5 with select passes).  We checked out the visitor center and watched one of the two videos that were showing. The staff at the front desk recommended some trails for us to hike – Object Lesson Road Trail to the Tri-State Trail. Once to the top of Tri-State Peak, you can stand in three states at once – Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. We also drove up to the Pinnacle Overlook for some lovely views.

Great Smokey Mountains - Oconaluftee

Next stop – The Great Smoky Mountains!  On our previous trip we stayed on the TN side of the park, this time we checked out the NC side. The visitor center, Oconaluftee, was a new building since we last had visited the NC side back in 2008.  Besides just checking out the visitor center area, we also visited the Mingus Mill.

Mingo Falls

Just outside of the Smoky Mountains, there is a nice waterfall – Mingo Falls. It is a bit of a hike to the falls (lots of stairs). The parking area is a little small, but there seemed to be a steady flow of people leaving when we arrived.

Lastly, we headed to our Sapphire destination – Fairway Forest. The accommodations were okay – they could definitely use some updating.

We had dinner at Mica’s – which is rated as the best restaurant around. It was just okay, nothing too crazy with the menu.

Out West 2016 - Day 9

June 4, 2016 (Saturday)

The day started with a visit to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum in Burr Oak, Iowa. We checked out the museum but did not take the Masters Hotel tour. The Ingalls Family lived there in 1876-1877. The Masters Hotel is the only childhood home of Laura Ingalls Wilder that remains on its original site. The hotel tour was $8 for adults.

Effigy Mounds National Monument

Our last National Park site, for this trip was the Effigy Mounds National Monument, located in Northeast Iowa. We watched the video and learned about the reason why the monument was created.  There are over 200 American Indian mounds located in the area of the National Monument. The interesting aspect is that some of the mounds are shaped as animals – bears and birds being the most popular. The history behind the mounts is very much unknown; however, archeologist believe that the mounds delineated territories of choice gathering and hunting grounds. The visitor center also has some displays that are interesting.

Madison Capital Building

One last state capitol to visit, the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison. The capitol campus was very nice. There was a lot of people activity in the area.  The current Capitol building is the third one since Wisconsin became a state in 1848. The building is the tallest building in Madison and was constructed between 1906 and 1917 for $7.25 million. Interesting fact: the exterior dome in the largest granite dome in the world! Another interesting tidbit is that per state law any building within a one-mile radius of the capitol must not be taller than the base of the columns surrounding and supporting its dome.

Summary: We drove a lot of miles and gas cost us between $2.16 - $2.44/gallon. Our total gas cost was $443.37.

Out West 2016 - Day 8

June 3, 2016 (Friday)

Mississippi River & Rec Area - Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock

Rainy day…well at least it was not an all-day rain. Our first stop for the day was the Mississippi River and Recreation Area – Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock. There were a few displays on the viewing floor. The person at the top was very talkative and told us all about the area surrounding the lock.

Minnehaha Waterfall

Upon recommendation, we headed to the Coldwater Spring portion of the recreation area. It was quite rainy at that point so we did not hike out on the trail, but we had our lunch there. The Coldwater Spring is at the very end of the Minnehaha Park. The Park is not very well labeled and we did not find a map.  Eventually, we were able to find the Minnehaha Waterfall. The waterfall was really nice, as was the park in that area.

Near the park was a local ice cream place that my cousin that lives in St. Paul recommended – Grand Ole Creamery. The portions were HUGE – a double is four scoops!  It was excellent ice cream!

The Cathedral of St. Paul

Continuing our quest to visit capitol buildings, St. Paul, the capitol of Minnesota was our next target. The capitol is under major preservation work through 2017. The capitol was constructed in 1905 and was designed by Cass Gibert, this is the first comprehensive preservation since original construction. There are 20 memorials in the capitol grounds – it was too rainy for us to explore.

St. Paul Capital Building

Leaving the capitol area, we got some amazing views of Cathedral Hall. The Cathedral of St Paul sits on the highest point of the city and is the third largest church in North America.

We spent the afternoon visiting my cousin and her family. It was a nice break from being on the road and of course it was great to get a chance to visit! For dinner we had some carry out fried chicken, fries and coleslaw – it was good (I’m not a fried chicken fan)!

Heading south from St. Paul, we stayed at the Comfort Inn in Rochester, MN for the night. 

Out West 2016 - Day 7

June 2, 2016 (Thursday)

Theodore Roosevelt - Maltese Cross Cabin

We headed back to the Theodore Roosevelt South Unit and got there when they opened. We watched the 17-minute video (just okay), checked out the museum displays (they were just okay) and looked at the Maltese Cross Cabin, Roosevelt’s first ranch cabin that was relocated next to the visitor center. From there we headed back east to the Theodore Roosevelt Painted Canyon Visitor Center. There was not a ton to see there, but I got my passport book stamped.

Knife River Indians National Historic Site

Our next destination was the Knife River Indians National Historic Site. We learned all about the Hidatsa people (15-minute orientation video) and got to look at artifacts that have been recovered from the village sites. Just outside of the visitor center was the Village Trail that leads to some of the village sites.  Quite honestly, the trail is pretty hot without much shade. I would recommend checking out the full scale reconstructed Earthlodge, which is right near the visitor center and not walk the rest of the way. There were some way signs to read, but not much else to see if you opt to walk the rest of the trail. If you do want to check out the rest of the trail you will see the remains of the Awatixa Xi’e Village (Lower Hidatsa Site) and Awatixsa Village (Sakakawea Site). The remains are basically grass fields.

Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

Near the Knife River area are some other sites – Fort Mandan and Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center (Washburn) to name a few. We stopped by the Lewis and Clark location, but did not think it was worth the cost to visit the museum with the time we had available. The outdoor sculptures were neat.

Bismarck Capital Building

We took a drive to the state capitol of North Dakota – Bismarck.  Traffic was pretty heavy in the area and the capitol was the ugliest one we have ever seen! It is a 21 story building, which is said to be art deco style. It is the tallest building in the state of North Dakota and is known as the Skyscraper on the Prairie. In 2012, there was a slight debacle when Minnesota’s house majority leader (Matt Dean) called the building “embarrassing” saying that it looks like a State Farm Insurance office building. The North Dakota governor, Jack Dalrymple responded that those that don’t appreciate it know nothing about architecture. [1][2] Dean’s comments came while arguing for Minnesota to pay to fix its own capitol. [3] The original capitol building burned on December 28, 1930.

1.     "North Dakota bridles at neighbor's Capitol insult".  Associated Press. April 20, 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.

2.        "Gov. Dalrymple fires back after Minn. lawmaker calls Capitol embarrassing". Retrieved 20 April 2012.

3.         "N.D. Capitol called 'embarrassing' as vote fails to fix Minnesota's". Retrieved 19 April 2012.

 Continuing east we stopped for dinner at the Spitfire Bar and Grill in West Fargo, ND. It was very good! After dinner, we drove a few hours farther and stayed at the Best Western in Alexandria, MN. There was a very good breakfast there. 

Out West 2016 - Day 6

June 1, 2016 (Wednesday)

Jewel Cave National Monument

Jewel Cave National Monument is the third longest cave with 180 miles of passageways. Tickets for cave tours are available first-come, first-serve basis. We got there before it opened, since it was obvious from prior first-come, first-serve we needed to be there to get early tickets.  My parents did not want to take a lot of stairs so we just went on the Discovery Talk Tour – which was free with the yearly National Park Pass, or $4/adult. The Discovery talk was about 20 minutes long and provided an overview of the natural and cultural histories in one cave room. It was an easy up and down in the elevator. The Scenic Tour (moderately strenuous) is the popular tour and is $12/adult and lasts an hour and 20 minutes. In the summer months, a Historic Lantern Tour is also available – it sounds awesome if you want a good adventure! The cave temperature is 49 degrees year-round.

Devil's Postpile National Monument

Trekking into Wyoming, we stopped to check out Devils Tower National Monument. This was our westerly most destination for the trip. The visitor center did not have much to see. There is a nice hiking trail around the monument. We were lucky and able to see some climbers (they were only part way up the 867-foot-tall tower – it takes 4 to 6 hours to climb to the top). The site is really unique – it is very weird to be driving along in the Black Hills and then see the huge rock piles sticking out of the ground. The site is considered to be Sacred to the Lakota and many other tribes that have connection to the area. The rock columns found at this park are very similar to what we saw at Devil’s Postpile National Monument in California, the main difference is that the size at Devils Tower are much larger.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

We stopped at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park – Painted Canyon. The site offers an excellent overlook of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Once we made it to Medora, we had dinner at the Little Missouri Saloon and Dinning. It was the most happening place in town – busy with great food!

After dinner, we took the 36-mile driving loop at the Theodore Roosevelt South Unit.  The loop took us about 1.5 to 2 hours to drive. There was not a lot of traffic in the evening. We saw a lot of wildlife: horses, deer, prong, bison, and prairie dogs.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

We stayed at the Best Western Plus Heritage Hotel & Suites in Dickenson, ND. It by far had the worse breakfast of the trip. We would have stayed closer to the Theodore Roosevelt Park, but the reasonable priced hotels did not have very good reviews.